About The Balboa Local

At a glance

• What: an independent, locally owned news site for Newport Beach.
• Where: Newport Beach, California, with a focus on the Balboa Peninsula, City Hall, the harbor and beaches, and the neighborhoods.
• Since: October 2026.
• How often: new stories most days, Around Newport in 3 Minutes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and City Council Watch before and after every City Council meeting.
• Always current: our important news stories (City Hall, elections, public safety, flooding and water quality) are checked every 3 days for their first 30 days, and when there’s news, we add a dated update.
• Contact: hello@balboalocal.com · Instagram @thebalboalocal

What we cover

• City Hall Watch: City Council and commission meetings, budgets, planning and housing decisions, elections and public notices.
• Surf & Coast: the harbor, beaches, tides, swells, flooding and erosion, and the people who use the water.
• Around Newport: local businesses, sports and fitness, local history and legends, community and culture.
• Go Do Stuff: events and things to do around town.
• The Hoods: Newport’s neighborhoods, starting with the Balboa Peninsula.

What you’ll find here

• Regular editions: City Hall at a Glance and Around Newport This Week every Monday, and Newport in 3 Minutes, a short civic and community briefing, every other day.
• Council Meeting Watch: a preview before each Newport Beach City Council meeting, updated with what happened afterward.
• Live Coverage: when something is unfolding, short updates drawn from official sources.
• City records search: a searchable library of City of Newport Beach agendas, staff reports and meeting documents.
• Surf Report: quick wave-size estimates for the Wedge, Blackies and West Newport, linked to Surfline.
• Listen to this story: an audio version of our stories, read aloud.
• Photos & Video: what we see around Newport Beach.

Built without writing a single line of code

Nobody here writes code. Not one line. Every part of this site, from the homepage layout and the lifeguard-tower menu to the live surf report, the city records search and the system that keeps stories up to date, was built by describing what we wanted to AI tools in plain English. We wanted to see if a real local newsroom could be built that way, without a tech team or a big budget. This site is the answer.

The AI handles the building. The judgment stays human. We decide what we cover, we pick the top stories, and some of what you read here is stuff we saw with our own eyes on the peninsula.

How we keep stories current

Every story on The Balboa Local is checked every 3 days for its first 30 days. If something has changed, like a council vote, a new date or a follow-up, we update the story so you’re never reading old news.

• What you’ll see: an “Updated” tag with the date and a short note on what changed.
• What stays the same: the original headline and photo, unless the facts require a change.
• When nothing changes: the story stays as it is. We only mark a story updated when it actually is.
• After 30 days: if there’s big news on an older topic, we write a new story and link back to the original.

Most local news gets published once and forgotten. We’d rather a story be right today than just right the day it ran.

How we work

We go to primary sources: agendas, staff reports, public records, official statements and the people involved. Where we can, we link to them so you can read them yourself. Bigger stories, like elections and City Hall decisions, are fact-checked against official sources before they go up or get updated. When we saw something ourselves, we say so.

Some of our headlines are meant to make you laugh. The facts underneath them are real and sourced. We correct our mistakes openly: if we got something wrong, email hello@balboalocal.com and we’ll fix it and note the correction on the story.

Independence

The Balboa Local is not affiliated with the City of Newport Beach, any political campaign, party or candidate, or any advertiser. Advertising and sponsorships help pay for our reporting; they never decide what we cover or what we say. Paid content is always labeled.

Questions people ask

What is The Balboa Local?

An independent local news site for Newport Beach, California. It covers City Hall, the coast and surf, the neighborhoods, local businesses, history and things to do.

Who runs The Balboa Local?

It’s an independent, locally owned newsroom with no big media company or outside owners behind it. The Balboa Local is the byline on our stories.

How current are the stories?

Every story is re-checked every 3 days for its first 30 days. When something has changed, the story is updated and marked with a dated Updated tag.

Does The Balboa Local use AI?

Yes. The site itself was built with AI tools, and AI helps with research, first drafts, checking stories against their sources and the audio narration. People decide what we cover, and the facts come from primary sources.

Are the funny headlines real news?

Yes. Some headlines are written to be funny, but the story underneath is real and sourced.

How do I send a tip or a correction?

Email hello@balboalocal.com, or use the “Did we miss anything?” box at the end of any story.